Automotive & Retail.Major Auto Dealer Group Overcomes a Severe Ransomware Attack
Returned to normal operations in days. Secured against a follow-on attack one week later.
Life is good.
A thriving, independently owned automotive group with more than a dozen dealerships across central Florida — part of a select circle of dealers in business for over 100 years. A modernized, paperless customer experience. Strong relationships. Growing market share.
A major ransomware attack.
The same modernization that improved the customer experience — moving to the cloud, going paperless — created exposure that new controls, training, and protections hadn't yet caught up with. A ransomware incident crippled operations. Two weeks went by without selling a single vehicle. The potential cost ran into the millions of dollars in lost revenue and remediation.
Decryption, hidden malware, and a hardened baseline.
Digital Hands recovered the encrypted environment and uncovered hidden malware embedded inside the decryption key the attacker had provided — preventing what would have been a follow-on attack a week later. Anti-malware tooling was deployed across the environment. A focused employee security awareness program closed the human-error gap that had let the original attack in.
Back to business in days. Hardened for what comes next.
Inside a matter of days the group was back to business as usual. Safer and faster technology in place. New controls and industry best practices closing the gaps the attack had exploited. A paperless car-buying experience that customers can trust with their data — backed by a managed security partner watching the environment continuously.